Organizational Media Futures is a blog on the evolving nature of media technologies and organizational change. Students and faculty contribute to this blog as members of the Cal State East Bay Media Futures Group, a nonprofit think tank emphasizing foresight as a critical tool for creating sustainable initiatives local and global.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Joan Thach Ch. 2 & 3

Chapter 2 was defining organizational Communication through many definitions and terms from the book. The terms and definitions seemed very basic. What caught my eye the most of all the terms in chapter 2 was "Communication as Transactional Process. In this section, the book says, "it is an attempt to share meanings" (p.30). In this context, the sender is encoding while the receiver is decoding. Feedback can be nonverbal, and verbal. For instance, non verbal can be gestures and body language. distractions can be involved and that is usually background noise. it is reminded in this section that "You cannont non communicate" (p. 30). I recognize this process in my life. Everyday i encounter these processes whether i speak or not. Because communicating does not have to bbe verbal, I communicate when i'm silent at work. For Instance, if i'm hungry, my stomache growls. This is me communicating with my mental mind. I can also communicate through artifacts. For instance, the clothes i wear can be determined by my mood.

I found chapter 3's section about "From Resistance to Domination" very intriging. In this section, the book describes two terms. Resistance to Domination and Hidden Transcripts. Resistance to Domination are individuals of little power have to lessen their constraints to those in power. All societie goes through this. The book's example of this term are slave narratives. Hidden Transcripts means are themes and arguments kept out of the public eye. An example from the book would be "a narrative that gave slaves a way to express their outrage among others who were caught in the same situation" (68).